Readership – An estimate of how many readers a publication has.
Circulation – A count of how many copies of a particular publication are distributed, including subscriptions.
Readership and Circulation
The National Readership Survey (NRS) provide publishers and advertisers with vital data on readership and circulation
The NRS categorises audiences using demographic variables – gender, age, social grade etc.
The use public data, they don’t just use data from people who read the magazines
Social grade method of classifying readers is most widely used – since 1956.
In this system, readers are given a grade based on the occupation of the chief income earner in their household.
NRS (National Readership Survey) Social Grades
Why Is This Used?
Strong correlation between social grade and income – useful for publishers and advertisers.
For example, magazines which target AB or ABC1 readers often carry more expensive brands, whilst those which target C2DE readers are more likely to endorse everyday brands.
Blumler and Katz’s Uses and Gratifications Theory
(Notes from: WJEC/Eduqas Media Studies for A Level Year 1 & AS)
Another audience theory that is particularly useful when considering the relationship between magazines and audiences is Blumler and Katz’s uses and gratifications theory.
This differs significantly from media effects theories such as the hypodermic syringe model. Rather than seeing the audience as a passive mass that is manipulated to think and act in certain ways by the media, the uses and gratification theory suggests that audiences actively seek out media products in order to satisfy particular needs.
The four main needs that are identified in the uses and gratifications theory are:
the need for information (surveillance needs)
the need for diversion, escapism or entertainment
the need for personal identity
the need for social interaction and integration
Magazines can be seen to meet these particular needs in a number of different ways, as researchers such as Joke Hermes (Reading Women’s Magazines, 1995) have shown.
Hermes conducted extensive interviews with readers of women’s magazines in order to find out how they used these products. One of her main findings was that women’s magazines are primarily used as a means of relaxation. The fact that they are ‘easy to put down’ was said to be a source of appeal as they could be made to fit within the routines of everyday life.
In order to explore the uses and gratifications your set magazines offers, you may find it helpful to address the following questions:
What particular information or advice does the magazine offer its readers?
In what ways could the magazine be seen to distract or divert its readers from the routines of everyday life? What particular pleasures does it offer?
How might the magazine be used to construct or consolidate a sense of identity?
In what ways might the magazine be seen to facilitate a sense of belonging? What opportunities does it provide for interaction with others?
Blumler and Katz’s Uses and Gratifications theory
Video Notes: The Changing Role of Women in the 1960s
Celebration of youth, free spirit and natural rebellion
2000s
actors and popstars
2010’s
new ways to access vogue
Main Image
the main image is a close-up of a woman applying the makeup that is being advertised. In this image, her performance is interesting, as her eyes are shut, suggesting it is easy to apply. This links in with the stereotype that women aren’t capable of things, and rely on men.
The woman is smiling, which is obviously adding connotations of happiness and ease to the product to try and encourage sales
The woman in the main image is wearing a lot of make up, has her hair done and her nails done which in magazines can be a way to sexualise women, but also a way to group them into a box in terms of how they should look. This can be done to sell products, like this brand of make up.
The idea that women are materialistic e.g. the earrings
High key lighting – typical of a beauty advert, but it could also have been used to possibly try and make the woman look a certain way
Text
The adjective ‘fluff’ suggests that it is easy to apply, which again adds to the stereotype that women aren’t capable of doing hard things.
The idea that women need to defy age and remain looking young is strongly reinforced and used as a selling point. The fashion and beauty (and diet) industry has a tendency to create “problems” for people (“untense, untired, untwined”), especially women, so that they then spend money to “fix” it. This advert focuses on age, with adjectives like “youth” and even going as far to calling it “alive”. “come alive” is underlined, to reinforce this idea of women needing to look a certain way, and needing to look young. This all links into the sexualisation of women. Plus, the use of exclamation to emphasise all of these points.
The idea that women need to wear make-up to look healthy – ‘instant health’, ‘come alive’. They only look “terrific” when wearing a product like this.
‘you’ve never looked so deliciously alive!’ – exclamation and use of adjectives is a way of sexualising women, and again putting them into a box of what women “should” look like.
Direct address e.g. ‘you’ve’ and ‘your’ which is theorised to sell products
Smaller Images
In one of the smaller images, the woman is shown applying the make-up to the back of her neck, while not wearing a top. This links into the sexualistaion.
All of the images are showing how to use the product, but none of these images actually give any new knowledge. This could link in with the stereotypes that women aren’t intelligent, and need help with things
Suggested Ideas:
Woman choosing to buy make-up – not an important decision
While not explicitly in the home, the woman is clearly in a private space – not in the public or professional sphere
Use of language such as ‘fluff’, ‘softly’ reinforces stereotypes of women as weak/ gentle
Phrases such as ‘you’re blushing’.. ‘deliciously alive’ imply a sense of desire to look attractive (potentially to please a man)
Multiple, fragmented shots of the woman’s face, and of the brush touching her face, eyes closed or looking up – subtly sexualised images
What singular, stereotypical representations of gender are evident in these examples?
The stereotype of women as nurturing and mothers. E.g. – the woman surrounded by children, with one of them on her lap.
The stereotype of women as innocent e.g. the connotations of the colour white which the woman (and the children) are dressed in, and which is also mentioned ‘romantic white’, ‘dreamy white’
The stereotype of women as marital e.g. the mention of ‘romantic’ and given the time period with the context of the rest of the advert (children)
The stereotype that women need a man’s approval e.g. the quote from Lord Henry
Suggested:
Passive
Nurturing/ maternal
Dependent on men
Housewife/ domestic role
Romantic
Seductive
Beautiful
The stereotype that women are emotional e.g. ‘one of the most surprising women I’ve ever met was a seemingly unemotional housewife’
The stereotype and expectation of women to be housewives.
The stereotype being held as truth e.g. ‘disguise’ being that she is a woman, and it was surprising when she didn’t just talk about horses, prices of food and being emotional
Suggested:
Passive
Nurturing/ maternal
Dependent on men
Housewife/ domestic role
Romantic
Seductive
Beautiful
Stereotypes – Women
nurturing
appealing to men/ sexualised/objectified
dependent on men
beautiful and elegant
emotional
domestic/house wife
lack of employment
weak
Representation of Gender in Women’s Magazines
Gauntlett’s Theory of Identity
Gauntlett argues that gender representations in the media are more diverse than those of previous generations. He suggests that today ‘we no longer get singular, straight forward messages about ideal types of male and female identities’, instead, the media ‘offer us an open realm of possibilities’ (Media, Gender and Identity: An Introduction, 2008, page 255).
Rather than being controlled or manipulated by the media, Gauntlett argues that we use the media to suit our own individual needs, taking a Pick and Mix approach as we borrow and combine different ideas from different media products we consume.
Domesticity and gender stereotypes in women’s magazines
David Gauntlett identifies historical magazines significant use of the stereotypical perfect housewife. This stereotype has a long cultural history as traditional women’s magazines have placed particular emphasis on the domestic sphere (p.168) Even though the stereotype of the ‘Happy Housewife’ was prominent in the 1950s and 1960s over 50% of working age women were in paid employment during this time. By constructing ‘Domesticity’ as a feminine ideal, these magazines and print adverts were reasserting the importance of traditional gender roles. Given that men occupied the majority of jobs and controlled corporations this can be seen as reinforcing the dominant ideology of patriarchy.
Applying the Theories:
Yes, there is evidence of sexualisation, the idea that women are only concerned with beauty products, the idea of consumerism, idea of women as maternal, men being looked after by the women (house wife – but not at home in the picture)
Better, but not 100% better
more natural makeup, but use of high key lighting, heavily dressed up – not so much sexualised but adding to the idea of consumerism and the idea that women need to dress up ‘bright young things’ (on cover) – emphasis on women looking young
This picture is VERY recent. Sexualisation/objectification (outift, make-up). They have either edited her, used make-up or lighting (or a combination) to make her look different which links in with this. Long shot contrasting to the past, but adds to sexualisation
They let Jameela do her own make-up, and she made sure that they didn’t edit her in post. Interestingly, Jameela is a well known activist when it comes to body positivity, which could explain why they did this. BUT they still used a lot of lighting (which she mentioned on Instagram) which can effect how a person looks maternal stereotype maternal stereotype, mother nature maternal stereotype
Alternative representations of gender in the 1960s
•Emergence of contrasting messages and images.
•Majority of magazines reinforced the stereotype of the ‘Happy Housewife’.
•Minority offered more progressive representations of gender.
These reflected a growing sense of female independence and liberation
Representations of Female Beauty
•Women’s magazines play a significant role in constructing cultural ideas of female beauty.
•They impress upon the reader the importance of physical appearance as a defining aspect of female identity.
•‘Women’s magazines constantly reiterate the need to ‘Be More Beautiful’ – Marjorie Ferguson
•Readers are constantly encouraged to: –Scrutinise –Evaluate –Measure
Race, ethnicity & national identity
•Mainstream magazines criticised for lack of racial and ethnic diversity.
•Images of white women most prominent.
•Beyoncé, Rhianna and Michelle Obama have appeared as cover images but these are largely tokenistic (p.171).
•Whitewashing is said to occur, making skin tones ‘whiter’.
•Cultivates a ‘white beauty myth’.
•Rather than denying racial and ethnic differences, some magazines construct black, Asian or minority women as the exotic other = visual pleasure.
•Mainstream magazines mediated through controlling white gaze.
1.What messages does that magazine convey about female beauty?
That it comes in basically one form.
2.How is female beauty defined?
3.How is the reader positioned in relation to the representations that the magazine offers? Are the models, stars or celebrities who feature on the magazine constructed as aspirational figures? If so, how?
4.To what extent does the magazine define a woman’s value in terms of the way she looks?
The Vogue October 2018 issue’s front cover stars Lady Gaga, a well known celebrity. Putting celebrities on magazine covers was a trend started by Vogue, specifically Anna Wintour, and links to the functions of the magazine cover as the use of a star encourages sales. Vogue has a distinctive masthead which is clear in this front cover as the main image, or more specifically Lady Gaga, is blocking part of the text (‘Vogue’) but everyone still knows what it says.This could make the magazine stand out from its competitors, especially lesser known ones, as the statement of being a well known brand encourages people to buy as people naturally have more faith in them. This could link to Psychographic Profiling, specifically mainstreamers, as they like trusted brands which and a distinctive masthead tells the reader they are a distinctive brand. The target audience is people interested in fashion. Hence, the cover line, ‘DRESSING FOR THE REAL WORLD’ being centralised, capitalised and in large, easy to read font – they are targeting their audience by making their genre clear and who they are targeting. The genre is also clear from the use of high key lighting which is a common feature of fashion magazines. Moreover, the intended audience could also be women. For example, one of the cover lines says ‘THE UNITED STATES OF WOMEN’. Plus, there colour scheme partially focuses on pink which is stereotypically linked to women. This therefore could be an example of demographic profiling.
In terms of the language choices, there is use of play on words in, ‘A STAR REBORN’, as it’s an obvious link to Lady Gaga’s latest movie, ‘A Star Is Born’ (2018). It’s also a way of encouraging sales because this paired with, “THERE HAS BEEN A GALAXY OF CHANGE” makes readers want to find out what Lady Gaga has to say, and they only way of doing that is purchasing the magazine. Anna Wintour has been a very influential figure on Vogue. One of the things she is known for, is moving the focus from just women’s face to their body. In this central image of Lady Gaga her body and face is very clearly the focus. It could be argued that this extreme focus on Lady Gaga’s body, especially when acknowledged that a large amount of focus is on her chest due to her physical positioning and her chest being in the center of the front page, could be a sexualisation of Lady Gaga and the female body. This links to Hall’s representation theory. Hall argues that all representations are constructed through signs and codes that are understood by the audience. He asserts that stereotyping reduces people and social groups to a few simple characteristics that are recognisable to audiences because they are reinforced over time. The sexualisation of women has in a way become a stereotype, as it reduces women into the stereotype of sexual objects which is why this example fits with the theory. As the codes (the focus being on her body, specifically her chest) link to a stereotype that reduces women to a few characteristics.
2) May 2018
Vogue’s May 2018 cover instantly stands out from their regular front covers as they have diversity in their fashion models. Moreover, Vogue famously started the use of a celebrity on the front of magazines which they usually utilise as a way of encouraging sales, but this front cover is different in that department as well. Despite these differences, they have still stuck to the convention and functions of magazine covers. For example, they have their distinctive masthead (‘VOGUE’), which is partially covered up by the models as they know potential buyers still know what it says because their name is so well known. Plus, the genre of the magazine is clearly indicated, therefore targeting it’s specific audience. For example, the use of high key lighting is a conventional tool in the fashion industry for their magazines. Plus, the central image displays an array of different outfits across the models. There are also plenty cover lines which are written in an easy to read font. Plus, ‘NEW FRONTIERS’ is particularly large drawing the readers eyes to it first. It’s referencing the diverse choice in models as for this cover they haven’t just chosen white, tall and very skinny women. This is reinforced with the line underneath reading, ‘The models changing the face of fashion’. This text is also written in white, along with the rest of it bar the title, which is a common colour choice for Vogue. In terms of language choice, they frequently use short sentences to get their point across quickly and easily to encourage sales due to created intrigue, like, ‘The models changing the face of fashion’ and ‘Gowns get fierce’. The positive representation in this magazine cover links to Gerbner’s cultivation theory as he stated that exposure to repeated patterns of representation over long periods of time can shape and influence the way in which people perceive the world around them. This magazine is displaying an accurate way for people to perceive the world around them, everyone is different. Whereas, most of their magazines display one type of person which could lead some people to want to be like them and/or think more people look like them than what is actually correct, and they display edited human beings that some people may perceive to be natural. This is something I assume to be criticised, Vogue lack of diversity and representation, and so maybe a reason why they chose this for their stand out piece was to make more be happy and encourage sales. However, there is a still a stereotypical Vogue middle in the centre of the front cover and touching the distinctive masthead which could suggest Vogue are still trying to pull focus to this form of representation. Linking on from this, the centre image includes five models and normally Vogue and other fashion magazines just have one. Not only was this a way to have diversity and positive representation but it also links into the function of magazine front covers as it’s a way that it stands out from its competitors. Standing out from your competitors is important as this encourages sales if people are more attracted to that particular magazine.
3) November 1965
Vogue’s November 1965 front cover has clear difference to it’s modern covers. Not only in terms of fashion and makeup displayed in the main image, but also the conventions and functions of magazine covers. For example, Vogue now is very aware of its distinctive masthead and usually covers up part of it with the model or celebrity on the front cover. However in this front cover the ‘VOGUE’ heading is placed over the image. Moreover, the language choices are different. On modern Vogue covers, there’s lots of use of short sentences that get the point across quickly and little to no use of techniques, but in this there is. Such as the use of repetition, ‘Night people… night places’ and the use of ellipsis. This is all a way of encouraging sales as this encourages attention and intrigue. When this magazine was for sale it would have been sold solely through physical copies contrasting to now when lots of digital copies are sold. This means aesthetically standing out from its competitors is very important, as people could physically see them together and Vogue want to stand out so people buy the magazine. This could be a reason why the link colour scheme was chosen (used in the main image and for the distinctive masthead) as it makes the front cover stand out. This in terms of Curran and Seaton’s power and media industry theory would be favourable to today’s online purchasing. Because, when Vogue and other fashion magazines where only available in physical print they had less control than nowadays when they also have things like social media and Curran and Seaton believe that media concentration generally limits or inhabits variety, creativity and quality. The genre of the magazine is clearly gotten across as the main image/center image is a close up of a woman in which the clothing and makeup is very much the center piece, therefore identifying to the audience that it’s a fashion magazine which helps to target its audience. However, it’s interesting that a fashion magazine is focusing in on the face rather than the fashion. This is because Vogue’s front covers didn’t start to focus on the models bodies until Anna Wintour got involved and started influencing the company. There’s also use of high key lighting which is a common feature of fashion magazines. Moreover the cover line includes the word ‘fashion’, ‘lights-on fashion’ therefore indicating that it’s a fashion magazine. The use of bold font makes this stand out as well as the large font size, therefore attracting the reader’s attention so that they can identify to the reader what the genre of the magazine is. You could argue that this is an example of demographic profiling as in the 60’s gender stereotypes were far more prominent than they are now in the 21st century, and so having pink as a dominant colour in the colour scheme could be a way of targeting a female demographic as pink is stereotypically associated with women.
The Media Language of Magazines: How magazines communicate meanings through their forms, codes, conventions and techniques
Representations: How magazines portray social groups and particular aspects of social identity
The Magazine Industry
Audiences
The Magazine Industry
Overview:
The magazine industry has changed significantly since the 1960s when the historical set products were published.
The marketplace was less crowded and the industry was dominated by a small number of major publishers. Today, the industry is still dominated by major publishers (such as Hearst, IPC, Bauer) but there is a much wider range of titles available and much greater competition for readers.
Print circulation is falling and there has been a rise in digital sales. Magazines need a strong online and social media presence as well as a clear, unique brand identity, in order to complete – many titles, such as Nuts and Loaded, have close in recent years, and others, such as Company, have become online-only magazines.
Many mainstream lifestyle magazines have struggled to survive, however there is now a wider range of niche, or specialised, magazines available and those that have developed a unique selling point and secured a loyal audience have been able to succeed.
Size of the Market:
Whilst the magazine influence has decreased, it is important to be clear that the UK magazine market remains a major media sector and industry in its own right.
Combined research for Inside Magazine Publishing estimates that annual value of the magazine industry in 2012 to be £3.55 billion. This is split as follows:
Consumers spend £1.8 billion on magazines at retail or via subscriptions
Print magazine advertising totals a further £750 million
Content marketing agencies (the producers of customer magazines) contribute a further £1 billion – There are in excess of 2,400 consumer magazines
Vogue:
Published monthly by Conde Nast, 1916 to present
Set edition: July 1965
Price: 3 shillings (36 old pennies)
Women’s magazines became very popular in the post-war period and, in the 1960s, sales of women’s magazines reached 12 million copies per week.
Women’s fashion magazine: monthly ‘glossy’, high production values, aspirational
Primarily focused on fashion and style – beauty and design, also cultural focus (theatre, books etc).
The set edition includes a range of articles about travel, money etc – features or broader lifestyle.
The History of Vogue:
Identity:
What makes the Vogue brand unique?
creates and starts trends
Influenced by social and political events and changes e.g. the space race, feminism
It’s influential platform
It’s incredibly high status
How has the brand changed over time?
The fashion itself has changed drastically over time.
There wasn’t always a photo on the front cover
In the 30’s Vogue started to be influenced by Hollywood. Pages began to fill with starlets. Influenced by movie make up, Vogue’s first beauty edition arrives. Heavier makeup was no longer just for women with questionable morals. At the beginning of the war in 1939, the government insists that Vogue continues to boost morale.
In the 60s Vogue thrived on things such as: experimentation, female choice. Encouraging sex, freedom and equality
In the 70s Vogue gets behind the second wave of feminism
In the 90s Vogue turns models into household names
2000s – “page to screen to pocket”
What changes in particular occurred in the 1960s?
Rise in fashion photography
Pop culture revolution
Rock stars
Fresh new faces in modelling?
Vogue thrived on things such as: experimentation, female choice. Encouraging sex, freedom and equality.
Space race. Vogue is influenced by this with space themes looks.
Why Vogue has attracted and maintained an audience for over 100 years:
“Vogue, influential American fashion and lifestyle magazine. It was founded in 1892 as a weekly high-society journal, created by Arthur Baldwin Turnure for New York City’s social elite and covering news of the local social scene, traditions of high society, and social etiquette; it also reviewed books, plays, and music. Condé Montrose Nast, the founder of Condé Nast Publications, bought Vogue in 1909 and transformed it into a women’s fashion magazine focused on beauty, composure, and etiquette. “
” Vogue soon became known for its distinctive photographs and high editorial quality. Nast hired the best illustrators and photographers of the day, and they produced covers for the magazine that were consistently sophisticated and occasionally revolutionary. In 1932, for example, Vogue became one of the first magazines to print a colour photo on its cover. In the 1960s the magazine redefined the look of female models, eschewing shapely figures to highlight thin, gender-neutral physiques.Vogue’s August 1974 cover was the first to picture an African American model. “
” In 1988 Anna Wintour became editor of Vogue and immediately transformed Vogue covers by emphasizing the woman’s body, rather than just her face, as well as by frequently featuring Hollywood actresses as opposed to traditional fashion models, thereby sparking an international trend. “
” In 2009 the film documentary The September Issue—which chronicled the production of the magazine’s record-breaking 840-page September 2007 issue—was released to critical acclaim. Later that year Vogue launched Fashion’s Night Out, a joint global initiative encouraging people to patronize international designers and retailers during the global financial crisis; the now annual affair marked the largest shopping event in history. “
” Vogue has enjoyed international success, with both standard and special editions published around the globe… In 2009 The New York Times christened Vogue “high fashion’s bible.” “
” It wasn’t until 1905 that Vogue really flourished, especially overseas, after the purchase of the magazine by Condé Nast. The American Vogue was imported and sold in Britain until a British version was started in 1916 which sold well despite the war, other country specific versions shortly followed in Spain, Italy and then France in 1920. Vogue in France was particularly well received as Paris had a thriving magazine scene with the artistic elite regularly contributing to publications there. “
” Despite the Great Depression and World War II, Vogue subscriptions continued to grow and editions like the October 1944 French edition reflect the feeling of the age, in this issue the magazine acknowledges the hardship suffered by Parisians and Vogue workers during the German occupation. The demure cover of the December 1947 edition which celebrates the wedding of Elizabeth II to Prince Philip also reflects the post-war feeling of the wedding in which Elizabeth saved up to buy her dress through ration books. “
” Going hand and hand with the photographers are of course the models, the appointment of Diana Vreeland as edition in chief in the 1960s helped to fuel the ‘models of the moment’ and to earn a Vogue cover became a goal for most models! Instead of focussing on ‘the elite’ in the fashion world, Vreeland and Vogue began focussing on more contemporary fashion and writing about the 60s ‘sexual revolution’. This led to the likes of Jean Shrimpton, Twiggy and Suzy Parker regularly gracing the cover of the magazine, transforming them into icons of the decade.”
” Wintour wanted to focus on fashion being accessible to everyone and continues to widen Vogue’s appeal by featuring celebrity cover stars, interesting articles and the latest fashion trends. “
“It may not have the financial clout of Forbes or the investigative insight of Time, but Vogue stands as both a mirror of modern life and a shaper of it.”
““It is, contrary to popular opinion, not a fashion magazine,” says Robin Muir, the exhibition’s curator, who is a photographic historian and contributing editor to the title. “Vogue is about people, society and culture and how fashion, art, photography and literature play out within that.””
” Circulation in England grew steadily for four years, before paper shortages and restrictions on shipping “non-essentials” across the Atlantic meant he had to reconsider his strategy. Circulation in England grew steadily for four years, before paper shortages and restrictions on shipping “non-essentials” across the Atlantic meant he had to reconsider his strategy. But it took time to find its fashion feet. Initially featuring editorial pages created in New York, the British edition included homegrown advertisements and a promise that “each issue will be supplemented with carefully selected articles dealing with English society, fashions, furniture, interior decorating, the garden, art, literature and the stage”. “
” Nicknamed “Brogue” by its employees, British Vogue’s first issue was edited by the avant garde, highly intellectual Dorothy Todd, featuring essays by her friends in the Bloomsbury group alongside a scattering of fashion illustrations and society portraits. “
” “At its best, Vogue has always celebrated the best of everything,” says the fashion historian and author Bronwyn Cosgrave, who was features editor of the British edition from 1998 to 2003. “It sets the absolute benchmark for everyone who aspires to learn about style and culture.” “
” Photography featuring figures of note has always been central to Vogue’s unique glamour, in effect creating the world’s first professional fashion photographer in Baron de Meyer, known fondly as the “Debussy of the camera” by his peers. Muir searched long and hard to find his favourite image in the exhibition: it was a de Meyer picture of a musical star named Dolores looking into a crystal ball. “
” “The photography in Vogue is always so original, so extravagant and so of its time,” says Cosgrave. “
” “The digital space is wonderful for reacting to things and its immediacy,” says Shulman, who now oversees the 21-year-old vogue.co.uk website as well as its centenarian sibling. “But what has kept Vogue so special is that it is about a very finely crafted existence, and taking time to create the contents is vital. Anyone can post an Instagram. By no means everyone can create the kind of images on show at the National Portrait Gallery.” “
Owned by Advance Publications (USA) since 1959.
Publishes Vogue, remained highly competitive in other sectors of the consumer magazine market
One of the first publishers to launch international editions
Vogue: Originally an American Publication. British Edition released in 1916
Unlike IPC, Conde Nast did not own printing plants in the UK. Long term contract with Sun Engraving Company – highest quality printing presses.
Vogue: upmarket fashion magazine targeting niche audience, dependent on advertising for much of its revenue
Direct Rival to Advance Publications: International Publishing Corporation in the 1960s
International Publishing Corporation (IPC) formed in 1963
IPC was formed following a merger between The Mirror Group (Newspapers/Publishing/Companies) Odhams Press, George Newnes and Fleetway
This saw further concentration of media ownership. IPC established itself as the largest newspaper and periodical printing group in the world.
Major media companies often consolidate their power by moving into other sectors of the media = Diversification
Conglomerate: A company that is made up of subsidiaries. Subsidiaries are smaller companies in their own right but still operate under a conglomerate.
Also, a vertically integrated company!
Vertical Integration in relation to social media
Curran and Seaton
Textbook: Pages 172-173
As well as exploring how magazines are funded, you also need to consider the significance of patterns of ownership and control in the magazine industry. Curran and Seaton’s theory of power and media industries provides a useful critical framework in this regard. The key premises of this theory are that:
the media are controlled by a small number of companies primarily driven by the logic of profit and power
the general trend in media industries is towards greater concentration of ownership
Concentration of ownership is often the result of horizontal integration. For example, one of the ways in which the major publishing houses have been able to consolidate their power in the magazine industry is by acquiring or merging with rival publishers. This effectively reduces competition, as power is concentrated in the hands of fewer companies.
There are different critical perspectives regarding the consequences of this concentration of power. Some theorists, such as Curran and Seaton, claim that this has a negative impact on media industries and audiences. They argue that media concentration not only limits or inhibits variety, creativity and quality, but also reduces choice for consumers. This is partly because major companies are risk averse and constantly look for ways to minimise costs and maximise profits. For instance, when one publisher buys out another, they may decide to merge or close some of their titles, rationalising their resources in order to produce economies of scale.
However, other critics dispute the idea that concentration of ownership has a detrimental effect on diversity and innovation. They argue that the major publishers are much better equipped to cater for wide range of audiences as their size and economic power makes it far easier for them to launch new titles as audience tastes change and new markets emerge. Rather than limiting creativity, the financial stability they have gives them the freedom to innovate.
Are there examples of magazine executives/editors ‘limiting creativity’ in the documentary ‘The September Issue’?
Anna would take down all of the photographs on the wall that people have created. It was her call.
![Ana de Armas - Vogue Magazine Pictorial [Spain] (April 2020)](https://img2.bdbphotos.com/images/orig/a/m/am962x1pj1x6x2pm.jpg?djet1p5k)
Georgia Newman - Media Studies 